Ohio Constitution
The Ohio Constitution was first adopted in 1851 but was changed substantially in 1912, so much so that it is sometimes called the 1912 Constitution.[1]
It was in September 1912 that the provisions for amending the Ohio Constitution by a citizen-initiated petition for a vote on the ballot was added.
Litigation
| “ | Plaintiffs point to the 1912 Ohio Constitutional Convention and a 1912 amendment of the Ohio Constitution--which added initiative and referendum powers--in support of their arguments. Plaintiffs allege that since the early twentieth century, the people of Ohio have had the authority to enact new laws through the initiative process and therefore, the "political discourse that surrounds an initiative effort" is to be protected. ECF No. 86 at PageID #: 1045; see also ECF No. 83 at PageID #: 978; ECF No. 85 at PageID #: 1030.
The Sixth Circuit has "identified substantive due-process claims as falling into two categories: (1) deprivations of a particular constitutional guarantee; and (2) actions that shock the conscience." EJS Properties, LLC v. City of Toledo, 698 F.3d 845, 861 (6th Cir. 2012) (quoting Valot v. S.E. Local Sch. Dist. Bd. of Educ., 107 F.3d 1220, 1228 (6th Cir. 1997)) (quotation marks omitted). A fundamental right to local, community self-government does not fit in either category. The right to local, community self-government [*23] is governed by state law, not federal law. See ECF No. 69 at PageID #: 638 (citing John Doe No. 1 v. Reed, 561 U.S. 186, 212, 130 S. Ct. 2811, 177 L. Ed. 2d 493 (2010) (Sotomayor, J., concurring) (noting that it is "instead up to the people of each State . . . to decide whether and how to permit legislation" through "mechanisms of direct democracy" such as the initiative power and referendum power)); see also Taxpayers United for Assessment Cuts v. Austin, 994 F.2d 291, 297 (6th Cir. 1993) ("[T]he right to initiate legislation is a wholly state-created right[.]"). |
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Beiersdorfer v. LaRose, No. 4:19-CV-260, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 76010, at *22-23 (N.D. Ohio Apr. 30, 2020).
